Fezzic, Are There Rocks Ahead?

Fezzic, from the Princess Bride movie, was once asked: “Fezzic, are there rocks ahead?” He astutely responded, “If there are, we all be dead.” We’re not dead yet, in spite of rocks ahead. Tuesday morning, AFTER filing the October quarterly report Justin learned that his job was no longer pertinent to the company. Myriad sold off a large portion of the company with this quarter, apparently Justin is no longer needed. His last day was Wednesday. That was a very swift “thank you, and goodbye!” Needless to say we are still reeling and hoping for the best. The timing has me all in a tizzy over how the holidays will look this year. We have 2 months to get Justin employed, gotta tighten that ole proverbial belt to keep our pants up (again). Cheers! Praying we can stay in Nampa if that is the Lord’s design. I am hoping that maybe Justin will finally have time to fix the blasted utensil drawer, the busted lights, and clean his side of the closet. Here’s to wishful goals. 

The rest of the week felt like a crap shoot of feelings. In many ways the week marched on like normal with concerts, band, and 5 photo sessions. Tis the season for family photos and High School Senior sessions. The income is most welcome. My gut was performing twisty acts of violence as I worked through 100s of scenarios and outcomes. Justin told the kids Tuesday once they got home. Evelyn stayed afterschool to be a “band-aid” for that night’s band concert. She looked pretty intense behind her glockenspiel during the concert. I also learned that Aria is the grand-supreme ruler of the band students. I know Aria from her 4th and 5th grade years at Reagan, she really might be the supreme ruler. After we listened to the beginner band’s ear cringing attempts at Hot Cross Buns and We Will Rock You, drum line took their places. Evelyn was excited to play the same songs Phillip learned, like transmission and transformers. The drum line sounded really good. It’s amazing how far students get in one year of band. CHS Marching Band arrived with the snares snapping out a beat. We got to see the entire show inside the EVMS gym. They sounded astounding. After the performance Mr Blakely asked how many students in the HS band came from EVMS, everyone raised their hands except 2-3 students! That almost brought tears to my eyes! Silly. Teachers like Mr Burton, shape these students life for years to come. I love our band (theater, music) nerds. They are the spice of life. 

Josie has taken to wearing ear muffs around. She looks adorable. She’s had more beloved items mauled by the dang dogs. This week the dogs found her hand warmers and her new gloves inside her backpack and chewed them to bits. She was in tears, mad as a spitting cat for a few hours. I hope the dogs don’t eat her ear muffs. 

Everett told me a fun fact this week. Scientists discovered that something strange happens when ants are fed milk. The milk messes with their reproductive genes. The next set of baby ants are born without toes. Did you know that? I didn’t even know ants had toes! Apparently, the ants are “lack toes in toler-ants.” I wonder how much sleep he loses thinking up these terrible jokes. 

I got to take Ambree, Kiana, and Addie’s senior photos this weekend. That was quite a bit of fun! In addition, I photographed the Potter family and my adorable Dobson family. The weather turned chilly but everything went well in spite of rain and wind. I have a few more sessions this coming week before it gets too cold. Saturday, I dragged Justin and the kids to Kathryn Albertson park to frolic about whilst I photographed Addie. Josie brought watercolors and paper to capture some of the fall beauty. The park was absolutely stunning. It was a perfect frolicking day. Phillip was doing his band stuff at the BSU stadium a mile away. Every so often we would snatch a tidbit of marching band sounds floating about on the wind. Lara Tampas gave Josie and I a ride to the stadium. Justin, Everett, and Evelyn left a little early to park and get seats. We ended up arriving to the ticket stalls at the same time. Josie couldn’t find me at the park because she went with Dad to get my wallet. Poor kids was almost frantic but I spotted her before she completely melted. That is the worst feeling. We secured seats before the CHS show. It was a great show! We hung out with Phillip right after while they packed the trailer and got dinner. He is a band nerd extraordinaire. CHS won 1st place in their division. They were disappointed they didn’t win any overall awards. That is a wrap to marching band for this school year. Hopefully, life will not be so crazy busy for a few weeks. 

Today was the Primary Program. We had a practice on Wednesday. Let’s just say it was chaos incarnate. Today went 100 times better than the practice. Josie got to sing a little solo of the new hymn, “Holy Places.” She did a lovely job singing with joy. I could hear the smile in her voice from the piano. I love to hear the testimonies of our little children. God lives!